Albeit a little early for Valentine’s Day, I have a love-filled video journal for you today.
Quite unexpectedly, we’ve brought more sweetness into our lives and home (and bed). Meet her just by following this YouTube link. I promise you it’s worth every second. (Oh, and please subscribe while you’re there for extras through the week.)
Just a thought… Remember that the happiest people are not those getting more, but those giving more. [H. Jackson Brown Jr.]
Sometimes, especially on a wintry Monday, you need a story that’ll warm your heart. Well, have I got one for you today!
I’m a big believer in random acts of kindness: putting things out there and never expecting a return, but secretly hoping that karma will be kind down the road. This past week I was witness to such an act that I have to share with you.
During our Jan. 15 Facebook live event, Lisa Brandt and I were given two $100 gift certificates from one of our two sponsors, www.enVypillow.com. We announced the winners’ names two days later in Episode 56, and waited to hear from them.
Very shortly thereafter we heard from Liz. Now Liz has had a very tough year: last year her husband suffered a life-altering health event and is now in assisted living. As anyone who is a caregiver, a loving spouse and/or both well knows, the stresses and heartache are a lot to take on – especially if you’re in your mid-80s, like Liz is. She was teary and elated to have won the gc. She said she’s been longing for an enVy pillow since we’ve been talking about them on our podcast, but thought it a little more than she could afford. The gc meant she could.
But that’s not the end of the story. A week ago today I received an email from Gracefully and Frankly listener Shirley. She read Liz’s story in my journal that day and wanted to top up the gc so that Liz could get whatever she wanted. After thanking Shirley for her vast kindness, I wrote to Liz and said, “I hope you’re sitting down…” and when Liz wrote back, she’d been crying with joy. Although she’d already ordered one, she and Shirley made some arrangements and let’s just say that both women were extremely pleased with the outcome.
As you can guess, so were Lisa and I. Lisa remarked, “This is better than radio – I mean, you get to connect good people, hear their stories – it feels amazing!” And she’s right. But back in my pre-podcasting days, we got to give away sums of money and trips (none of them our own) and to hear of people’s gratitude.
At Christmas we read letters from folks who wanted to gift other deserving people with trips from the radio station and we listened in as the winners told the recipients about their windfall. That was the best. We felt as if we were making dreams come true (when in reality it was the hard work of our sales and promotions departments).
In a way, a $100 voucher and Shirley’s added generosity did that here, too. Liz felt loved and cared for, and as she said, “For at least one day, I wasn’t thinking about assisted care.” How wonderful of Shirley and beautiful of Kathy and Kim to donate the gifts!
But there’s one more note in this sweet song to share: our other winner Karen has a daughter going for her doctorate who has trouble sleeping because of a jaw issue (TMJ). The pillow will definitely help her with that, Karen said.
Look, this wasn’t meant to be an ad for a pillow company and its two women at the helm. It’s a reminder that there are good people everywhere – like the guy who reached out to help my sister move a trailer out of her garage in the Okanagan when fires were bearing down last summer. He didn’t want a penny and was happy to assist in her hour of need.
Don’t let the people who drain you or take you for granted fool you; there are still those out there who will appreciate any gesture – even a call or a thought. Last week at the grocery store checkout, I let a man in a wheelchair go ahead of me since I had a full basket and he had only one item on his lap. The man, coincidentally, was also named Davis (I heard the cashier say it when she accepted his loyalty card). Then I watched as he gave back his only purchase: a steak he thought was $12, thanks to the big red sticker on it, was actually that price per pound. I caught the cashier’s eye and mouthed that I’d buy it. She bagged it and gave it to him; he waved and said to me, “Thank you. God bless you.”
And do you know, just hearing someone being grateful for something I’d done meant more to me than anything else could have. And karma? I just told the lady checking out my purchases that I was hoping my family would have a smooth travel day, and they did.
Oftentimes all we want is to be seen and appreciated. To feel like someone knows our hearts, and that we want to make their lives better. It sure beats receiving.
But you probably already know it.
Just a thought…
Goodbyes are not forever,
Goodbyes are not the end.
They simply mean I’ll miss you
Until we meet again.
[author unknown]
Well hello! I’m taking an hour away from these last precious days with my friend Lisa Brandt visiting here in Palm Desert to catch you up with this week’s journal. We’ve done lots and done nothing: the best kind of time spent together. I lost track of how often I thanked her for being with me.
I think, other than hours and hours of plotting our podcast plans for the year ahead and talking about our lives and challenges in general, I most enjoyed watching her taking in the sights from the slowly rotating car of the Palm Springs Tramway.
I’d been up a few years ago, but I still had butterflies as we ascended to 10,000 feet, although that was mostly because Lisa was unsure about being in the cylindrical car (the largest tram car model in the world) that had about 50 people standing in it.
It was then that I realized I had only my tiny wallet-sized purse and no mask. (Luckily, so far, so good, but I must say I would happily nurse Lisa back to health if she couldn’t go home tomorrow!) Lisa if you’re reading this – I miss you already.
We spent last week just floating (literally and figuratively) from the success of our Facebook Live video event. We had hoped for a few hundred views and got over 3000 (it’s still up at Facebook.com/gracefullyandfrankly if you want to spend an hour – just you, Lisa and me). The comments numbered over 800 and we’ve done our best to respond in some way; this Thursday’s Gracefully and Frankly Episode 57 will address a few of the questions we didn’t get to during the live show.
If you don’t know where or how to listen to a podcast, let me tell you that one of the winners of our $100 gift certificate from enVypillow.com is 85 years old and could not have been more grateful: she’s visiting long-term care to see her husband who had a major health setback last year and always wanted one of our sponsor’s pillows but never felt she could afford it. Well, now she says she can and could not have been happier. Nor could we, Liz, nor could we. Lisa and I were both so touched by her email to us, we could have cried. Anyway, if Liz can do it, you most certainly can, too!
During Lisa’s 9 days here, we ate out a few times, and spent short spurts in the warm swimming pool (here’s Lisa living her best life despite chilly temps outside).
We caught up on cable movies we felt our spouses wouldn’t mind us watching without them, and shopped a bit. Having trod the aisles a lot when our son- and daughter-in-law were here the week before, I was done with it, but Lisa did find a few bargains she couldn’t get at home.
That’s where she heads tomorrow. My heart will be heavy as I pull away from the airport, trying desperately: a) not to cry, and b) to follow the GPS instructions back to the house.
I’ll make my final solo trip to Palm Springs International on Feb. 8 in hopes of getting home smoothly to Rob. Oh, and of course to Dottie, whose maternity leave will be ending at the same time as my getaway. I hope by then Rob’s water woes are over: unusually cold temperatures meant frozen pipes and we actually need scaffolding to get up to them to fix one that burst. That’s being handled tomorrow (we hope) although it may be a few days yet until Rob gets running water throughout the whole house. I wish I could say I’m sorry to be missing it all, but he’s handling it as he does all things: with grace, calm and ingenuity.
And now, one more picture for the road, and what Lisa’s view will be as her flight leaves tomorrow, hopefully on time and with her suitcase – two things we sure don’t take for granted anymore.
Talk to you again soon here and thank you for stopping by. It’s always nice to be surrounded by friends – even if they’re virtual for now.
Just a thought… Living with fear stops us taking risks, and if you don’t go out on the branch you’re never going to get the best fruit. [Sarah Parish]
Well, another week, another pair of huge travel debacle stories. This one isn’t about an engine that wasn’t behaving; that was last week for our family trip down here to Palm Springs International in California. (Hear all about it here on last week’s Gracefully and Frankly podcast.) This time, it’s weather and WestJet and every foul-up you can possibly imagine.
Okay – so to put things in order. The great news is: Brooke, Phil, Jane, Colin and Rob got on their delayed flight out of here on Saturday and, since their connecting flight from Vancouver to Victoria was also delayed, they actually made it. That was a star on the day.
The good news is: my friend and pod-partner Lisa Brandt, after changing airlines entirely and biting a huge and wallet-whallopping bullet, arrived at PSP just before midnight last night.
The bad news is: after one cancellation following another, our friend and FB Live would-be producer Anita MacArthur did NOT make it. She was maybe going to arrive by noon today, three hours before our live event, and then WestJet cancelled her again. That’s after she booked a Vancouver hotel room to wait out the 12 hours between her first re-booked flight and the next. So we are down a woman and flying today, Lisa and I, by the seat of our big girl pants for the FB Live. On what cycle those undies will be washed after today’s event will depend entirely upon how it goes.
Details above and, no, you won’t be on camera; it’s come as you are, and it’s free! Watch us (hopefully) laugh our way through our first one. We’re all in this together and even if it fails – which Lisa assures me IT WILL NOT – nobody dies. Let’s have fun. Anita is going to join us via WhatsApp and send us your questions. Or send them to us early and we’ll get to them first: write them now to gracefullyfrankly@gmail.com.
So, on with today’s journal….
Part one of my winter trip has now ended. Meantime, Rob awoke yesterday in North Saanich (near Victoria, BC) to no running water in the house. Pipes had frozen, which has never happened.
Here in Palm Desert, it’s also been unseasonably cold, just as it has been through much of the mainland lower 48 states. It costs a ton to heat our rental house pool daily, but seeing pictures like this makes it all worthwhile.
As you can see, the kids had a great time on their trip and we made lots of memories. For Rob and me, the touristy highlight was the Universal Studios tour. Oh, and hamming it up at the entrance, of course.
Well, off to have adventures of a whole different kind today: trying something we’ve never done before. Last week, I recorded my side of the Gracefully & Frankly podcast in a minivan in the garage here. Today we’ll be doing a live show, from where, in or out of the house I don’t know. It won’t be the van! Be patient with us if you’re joining (or tuning in just for the fear factor LOL) and fingers crossed. I mean, what’s the point in never trying something that terrifies you, right? Like Sarah says above, that’s where the best fruit is.
Just a thought… People must understand that science is inherently neither a potential for good nor for evil. It is a potential to be harnessed by man to do his bidding. [Glenn T. Seaborg]
It used to be, one week into a new year, I would have just finished putting the correct digits on the date line of every page in my cheque book. Nowadays, cheques aren’t something that are even in my annual life, never mind daily. I think I wrote all of one in 2023 (and yes, I got the year right).
Every day I marvel at the technology at our fingertips. Rob spent a day of our current family trip away learning (thanks in part to a 4000-page online manual) a new way to edit video to the high specifications needed for an upcoming visual podcast that we’re stepping into this year. While he toiled in a bedroom, the rest of our family used a QR code on the family room TV through our son-in-law’s phone to get onto his home Netflix account instead of typing in an endless string of numbers to do so. Amazing.
While stranded at our home airport for several hours on Thursday, we were notified by text of the delays to our flight which – thanks to a failing engine – never did take off. But we knew before announcements were made. We were put on another flight that night, and had a 3-hour stay in an Edmonton hotel instead of our earlier plans to connect in Calgary and head on to California.
So we lost a day of our trip, but this time our luggage stayed with us – a miracle in itself, as we’d been told it’d be going straight on to our final destination. And how did we know where they were? Apple AirTags in our suitcases. Incredible.
As we settle into 2024, many of us feel a sense of dread about the technological wizardry (and in some cases, sorcery) that abounds: AI is producing videos that aren’t real and are meant to dupe and infuriate the unsuspecting, incurious and biased. A huge American election looms later this year that will have worldwide effects if it goes in one particular direction. Those forces looking to strengthen ties with, say, Russia will be doing all they can to muddy the waters and create dangerous undertows. So, yes, it’s scary.
But can we tip our hats to the science that means waste water testing (go, poo!) shows where and by how much Covid numbers are up, hopefully encouraging even just a few more people to mask up in public? Anecdotally, in an overcrowded US department store Saturday, I could count the number of people wearing masks (who were not employees) on one overly-sanitized hand. But that science is there to help us, if we choose to pay attention.
I guess what it all comes down to is not just what gifts the gods and demons of science have created, but how we use them – for the betterment of humankind through protective and security measures, or the darker forces of subterfuge and deception.
I’ll always be a glass-half-full kind of person, and while we can dread and lament what the future holds, we can also take responsibility to be cautious – not overly afraid and paranoid, just cautious – and to make sure that, as individuals, we use those powers for good. As much as we can, anyway!
On that note, I’ll remind you that my friend and Gracefully and Frankly podcast partner Lisa Brandt and I are finally getting together in as close to an in-person setting as we can with you next Monday. It’s a free Facebook Live event happening at 6 pm Eastern Standard Time, 3 pm where we’ll be together here in California.
You’re invited to sign up right away and join us for an open forum on whatever you want to discuss or just to spend time with two people we hope feel like old friends to you. Just not that old; Queenagers is more like it. And we’re happy to say that our also-young friends Kim and Kathy from enVyPillow are giving us gift certificates to reward some of our visitors next Monday as well. See the details on our Facebook page and we are so excited to talk to you then.
See? Told you technology could be used for good. And even for fun!